Document: Resolution of the fiscal to subject Cornelis Willemsen to torture

At the session, present: the director-general and all the councilors (except Mr. Werckhooven), who having examined and heard Cornelis Willemsz, presently a prisoner, and confronting him with his previous testimony, found it to be disparate and defective. First, concerning the entry, which he, the prisoner, declares was done through the gate which stood open, but appears to have been otherwise because the gate was locked with a night bolt and even was secured below with a door bar. Second, concerning his first statement that he had come there looking for the servant Fernande, and afterwards said that he, the prisoner, had come to talk to the maid. However, it is quite apparent that he, the prisoner, did not enter through the gate. And concerning his further declaration that he then must have climbed over near the gate, without the prisoner absolutely declaring that he climbed over there and on which side of the gate, it is concluded as being probable from the prisoner's confession that he climbed over near the gate. From the layout of the place and the height of the fence it is deduced and [ ] that he, the prisoner, [ ] help and [ ] ; however, the principal point in the confession is that the prisoner committed breaking and entering which fact is aggravated by the time element: that it happened at night [ ] evening's bonfires were burning and everyone was rejoicing about 2 to 3 hours before daybreak; and by the layout of the place: that the prisoner had first to climb over a high fence before he could reach the glass.[1] Having considered all this, the director-general and council conclude by allowing the plaintiff[2] to expose the prisoner to more rigorous examination in order to discover his accomplices and the truth. Thus done at the session of the honorable director-general and high council held in New Amsterdam, 24 August 1654.